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Carrying on a conversation with a passenger or your phone while driving slows the eye movements that deliver about 90 percent of the information that you need to detect hazards. This from researchers at Japan’s Fujita Health University whose study was just published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Studied were 30 healthy adults, mean age 22 years. Measured was the elapsed time necessary for each subject to shift gaze to a critical target while actively talking, listening, or without any distraction.
The data demonstrates that only active talking causes delays in the time necessary to initiate eye movements, visualize a target, and stabilize the gaze. Listening alone does not have this effect. The researchers say the mental effort required to think and speak competes with the brain systems that control eye movement, disrupting visual processing before a driver can even recognize danger and formulate a timely reaction. Through the delays were small, the researchers warn that these delays can accumulate during real-world driving in situations involving pedestrians, road their debris, or sudden hazards. The resultant suboptimal driving performance can lead to tragic outcomes.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0333586
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